IF THIS is the Anglo-Welsh Cup, you can keep it. Leicester celebrated a ragged win on the final whistle, but the leap in the air by their players was about the most energetic, and synchronised, effort of the afternoon. Perhaps they were exhibiting their delight at beating the Guinness Premiership leaders. More likely, they were just relieved that an awful afternoon at the office was finally over after eight minutes of second-half overtime.

It was obvious from the lineups where the two clubs list the EDF Energy Cup in their priorities, but the raft of youngsters in each team were keen to impress. Sadly, the more experienced men on the park didn’t look up for it; and some of the young guns simply weren’t up to it. If they were, then most of them were firing blanks.

The Tigers have reached the past two finals in this competition, but, playing in their new blue and white away kit, they were a shadow of their normal selves. Without the stripes, and, like Bath, with one eye on next weekend’s Heineken Cup no doubt, they lacked their customary bite.

Perhaps Derrick Hougaard, making his debut for Leicester, could blame his own slow start on the men around him. It started badly, and didn’t get much better for the Springbok Test fly-half, even though he did turn out to be the match-win-ner. Playing his first game since injuring his shoulder playing for the Blue Bulls, Hougaard’s first kick went straight into touch and Bath scored from the resulting lineout when he missed a tackle on Michael Stephenson, who sent Andrew Higgins over in the corner.

Hougaard did bounce back to kick two penalties and convert a try by Ben Youngs, but he scuffed his next penalty attempt, amid much booing from the Bath fans, and was hopelessly short with an ill-ad-vised drop at goal. Youngs did well to dart through from a lineout after Sam Raven, making his own debut in the Tigers second row, stole a Bath lineout ten metres from the home line.

Youngs, at 19, was one of Leicester’s few success stories. His elder brother Tom, 22, had a quieter game at inside-centre.

Shontayne Hape, the former Bradford Bulls player, made his first start for Bath at outside-centre. He has a nice step, quick hands and was eager to clear out at rucks, but he had little chance to shine in such a dull encounter.

The home side also chose this competition to give Robbie Kydd and Scott Bemand debuts at full-back and scrum-half respectively.

Bath stuck at their all-court game, which even saw Justin Harrison standing in at fly-half, and David Flatman, their stand-in skipper, showing his deft handling skills with some neat offloads in contact. There were times, however, when Bath would have been better driving hard and straight, rather than shipping it on laterally.

Raven would rather forget his next touch, when Ben Youngs set him free on a touch-line charge, only to spill the ball right in front of the Leicester bench. Richard Cockerill, the scowling Tigers forwards coach, will not allow him to forget that one when the players turn up for training in the morning.

That error was nothing compared with Sam Vesty’s howler four minutes before the interval. With Bath hammering at their line, the Leicester forwards did well to steal a turnover and smuggle the ball back to their full-back. How they must have laughed when Vesty’s attempted clearance kick failed to even clear the ground, bouncing into the chest of Higgins, who managed to ground it as Tom Varndell tried to hold him up.

Kydd made a similar hash of the conversion, however, to leave Leicester ahead by a point, 13-12, at the break.

Bath regained the lead 14 minutes into the second half when Kydd kicked his first penalty, a “gimme” from in front of the posts. In the drizzle, it still failed to rally the raincoated home crowd. There’s talk of Bath moving to Swindon next season, if they are not allowed to develop the Rec - or Wreck as it is now known. There must be days when their fans would happily relocate to Timbuktu, as long as it put a roof over their heads. On colder days, combined with rugby of this paucity, you would rather pay to get out than into the current ground.

Hougaard dampened their spirits even further by landing his third penalty, followed by a drop goal from behind a scrum on the Bath 22 to wrap things up for his new team. It was hardly surprising that they booed their own side when Kydd opted to kick a penalty in the 80th minute. If they meant to put him off, it worked.

The final of this competition is at Twickenham on April 18. On this showing, neither set of fans will be queuing for tickets.

Star man:Ben Youngs (Leicester)

1
The number of wins Bath have managed in their past eight EDF Energy Cup games. That single success was against yesterday’s opponents Leicester, 20-14 at the Rec in last season’s first round

BATH:R Kydd; M Stephenson, S Hape, T Cheeseman (R Crane 80min), A Higgins; E Fuimaono-Sapolu,S Bemand (M Baxter 78min); D Flatman (capt, N Catt 72min), R Hawkins (P Dixon 72min), P Ion (A Jarvis ht), J Harrison (S Hooper 27min), S Hobson (A Griffiths 78min), J Ovens, E Jackson, J Scaysbrook.

LEICESTER:S Vesty; T Varndell, A Erinle (M Smith 62-69min), T Youngs, A Tuilagi (M Smith 70min); D Hougaard, B Youngs; B Stankovich (S Bonorino 66min), M Davies (G Chuter 39-41, 56min), D Cole, S Raven (J Goldspink 72min), B Kay, D Hemingway, B Deacon (capt, M Wentzel 30-32min), S Pearson (M Wentzel 48min).

Referee:D Richards (RFU)

Attendance:10,600

Scorers: Bath:Tries: Higgins 5, 36 Con: Kydd. Pen: Kydd Leicester:Try: B Youngs. Con: Hougaard. Pens: Hougaard (3). DG: Hougaard